Libya to execute HIV-jab medics

A Libyan court has sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death for infecting hundreds of children with the AIDS virus in an attempt to find a cure for the disease.

Bulgaria condemned the "unfair and absurd" verdicts delivered on Thursday and called for a strong reaction from its Western partners -- the European Union, NATO and the United States. The verdicts will be appealed, defense lawyers said.

The issue is a hurdle to Libya joining the economic Euro-Mediterranean partnership. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi promised action in the dispute during his ground-breaking visit to the EU headquarters last week, Reuters said.

The health workers, detained in early 1999, were convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children at a Benghazi hospital with blood products contaminated with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The court in the town of Benghazi sentenced the five female nurses and a male Palestinian doctor to death by firing squad.

www.cnn.com...

i don't know if the doctors and nurses intentionally infected these kids, but poor hygiene and lack of new medical equipment probably contributed to the spread of the virus.

but if these people really did do some sort of bizarre experiment with children and the virus, they deserve to be killed.

I agree with you, WW. If these children were infected intentionally, then I think the punishment is suiting. It's virtually the same thing done to those infected.

It's sad.

If those children were intentially infected then what those medics did is no different than the 'tests' performed by Josef Mengele. The sentence they received is only the same as the ones they gave to their test subjects.

If that had happened in the UK they would probably have got a slap on the wrist and be removed from the BMA list.

Good to see the Libyans have their priorities right.



[Edited on 6-5-2004 by Pisky]

Update

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the HIV virus arrived in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia Tuesday, following their release after serving eight years in jail on the charges.

"This is the result of very tough and long negotiations ... between the European Union and Libyan authorities," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said. "It has been a long discussion and debate with Libya until we reached this agreement."